Air raids on Aschersleben

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Aschersleben from the south

The city of Aschersleben and the neighboring Junkers aircraft works were the target of six Allied air raids in the Second World War in 1944 and 1945 . A night raid by the British RAF was followed by five daytime raids by the USAAF , four of them with heavy bombers. 161 Boeing B-17 “Flying Fortress” and B-24 “Liberator” dropped 454 tons of high explosive and incendiary bombs . Parts of the city, the Junkers factory and the railway systems were badly hit. More than 450 people died, 250 from the civilian population and 200 foreigners - plus numerous missing persons. 350 apartments were destroyed or damaged.

Aschersleben

Construction of Junkers aircraft fuselages

Aschersleben is located in the valley of the river Eine and is seen from the northeast as the “gateway to the Harz”. The city belonged to the Prussian province of Saxony until 1944 . Aschersleben has a partly medieval old town with preserved town fortifications. The Baedeker travel guide from 1943 gives 33,500 inhabitants and describes "lively industry " (machinery, paper goods factories, potash mining) as well as important seed production and trade. Since 1937 Aschersleben was a garrison town of the Wehrmacht , especially for heavy anti-aircraft cartillery . Modern barracks were built , for example on Güstener Strasse. On the outskirts of the city on Wilslebener Strasse, an army ammunition facility (MUNA) was built on the site of former potash pits. On the western outskirts of the city, a large-scale plant for the series production of fuselages for Junkers Junkers Ju 52 , Junkers Ju 87 and Junkers Ju 88 aircraft was built as a branch of the Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke Dessau . From 1937 to 1940, many new residential buildings were built for the workforce, including a private home settlement ("Junkers settlement"). During the war, the Junkers branch had up to 7,000 employees, including many foreigners (recruited foreign workers, forced laborers, prisoners of war and from July 1944 also concentration camp inmates).

Air raid

The following air raid shelters were used as publicly accessible air raid shelters: the brewery cellar located on the ravine , the tunnel "Unter der Alten Burg" and a tunnel at the barracks of the police. Towards the end of the war, another air raid shelter was started from the Heiliggraben towards the garden. The large Aschersleben companies had air raid shelters that were also used for the population. The largest were the underground facilities of the Junkers factories ("Junkers-Stollen") and the Heeresmunitionsanstalt (MUNA).

The individual air strikes

RAF bomber targets in the German Reich, Aschersleben on page 18
American "Liberators" B-24
American fighter aircraft A-20 "Havoc"

The British Bomber Command listed Aschersleben as "Redfin": lake trout in its list of aliases for a hundred German cities that were intended for RAF air raids . On 1st / 2nd On September 30th, 1940, isolated British bombs fell south of the city for the first time at night, on September 30th / 1. October 1940 at night at the Junkerswerke airfield

  • January 21, 1944 : The RAF flew a night attack with incendiary bombs on the marshalling yard, the Junkers factories with the "Hochtrift" camp and the Ascherslebener Maschinenbau AG (AMA). A mine bomb, some phosphorus incendiary bombs and stick incendiary bombs hit the Junkers factories. Some of the phosphorus incendiary bombs were duds. 50 of the phosphorus incendiary bombs fell on the Hochtrift barrack camp. 52 buildings in the vicinity of the plant were also damaged. "There were no deaths to complain about in this air raid"

It was the 21./22. January 1945 at the same night in which a planned nightly major raid by the RAF on Magdeburg failed due to orientation difficulties in bad weather and effective German air defense and instead mostly 23 small towns and villages in the region were bombed. The alternative destination Aschersleben was one of these. 57 of 648 heavy bombers were shot down, mostly by German night fighters .

From February 1944 until the occupation of the city on 17./18. April 1945 the 8th Air Force of the USAAF took over the further bombings on Aschersleben.

On February 20, 1944, Aschersleben near Leipzig was to be attacked by the USAAF. The bombing on Aschersleben was prevented by poor visibility and the substitute target Oschersleben was attacked.

  • February 22, 1944 : The attack took place as part of Big Week against German air armaments. The 1st Air Division of the 8th Air Force of the USAAF had Aschersleben, Halberstadt and Bernburg as targets. 34 B-17s of the 303rd Bombardment Group, accompanied by Thunderbolt fighters, dropped 78 tons of bombs on Aschersleben as their primary target from a height of 7,000 meters from 2:01 to 2:02 p.m. The site of the Junkers branch was fully hit. According to the US report, the weather was "extremely favorable" and there was no air defense. Only on the return flight were four heavy bombers shot down.

There were 45 German and 25 foreign victims in the bombing. In a newspaper advertisement, the "NSDAP and the Volksgemeinschaft" mourned the "victims of enemy bombing terror" by naming their names. On February 26th, a memorial service was held in front of the lined up coffins on Adolf-Hitler-Platz, with honor guards, wreath-laying ceremonies, memorial speeches and the names of the victims being read out. When the coffins of the German dead were being transported away, the Horst Wessel song was muffled, and for the "foreigners" a funeral march. The coffins were accompanied to the municipal cemetery by a form of honor from the Wehrmacht and the Hitler Youth of the Junkerswerk. Most of the German and all foreign dead were buried in the municipal cemetery . A square of mourners was formed around the common burial site, including delegations from foreigners from the Junkers factory

  • April 22, 1944 : For this day, 74 German and eight foreign deaths can be found in the burial book of the Aschersleben cemetery after a "so far unconfirmed air raid". This probably means: "Not confirmed by US information". In fact, there is no entry in the 8th Air Force's war diary about attacks on central Germany on that day.

Also on June 19, 1944 there was another “unconfirmed air raid” on Aschersleben, with the dropping of fire canisters.

  • June 29, 1944 : 47 "Liberators" B-24 of the 2nd / 3rd The USAAF's 8th Air Force bomber division, accompanied by an escort of fighter planes, dropped 148 tons of explosive and incendiary bombs on targets in Aschersleben as the primary target from 9:32 a.m. The Junkers works, the Junkers settlement and the army ammunition facility (MUNA) were hit. Since the "Junkers tunnel" as a large air defense system had meanwhile been completed, there were seven German and seven foreign victims, a significantly lower number of deaths than on February 22nd. "The enemy's bombs tore from our midst" was reported by the NSDAP, "Volksgemeinschaft" and Gauleiter Jordan. The burial in the municipal cemetery took place on July 3rd. In the cemetery death register, there are seven Germans, two Belgians and five Russians (two of them children). In addition to the "followers" (including foreigners), the neighboring residents also had access to the shelters of the Junkerswerk
  • July 7, 1944 : From 10:30 a.m. onwards, 73 B-24s of the 2nd Bombardment Division of the USAAF dropped 204 tons of high explosive and incendiary bombs at Aschersleben as their primary target. They were accompanied by P-47 Thunderbolt, P-38 Lightning and P-51 Mustang fighters . The outskirts and Winninger settlements were hit. There were 13 German and 9 foreign fatalities, according to Mühle and Kilian, according to the death register, eight Germans and six foreigners (two Belgians and four Russians). The dead were buried in the municipal cemetery on July 10th.

Of the 373 US bombers that attacked targets in central Germany that day, 28 (37) "Liberators" were shot down in the air battle of Oschersleben / air battle over the Egelner Mulde using a new tactic of the German fighter pilots and 127 were damaged

  • March 31, 1945 (Holy Saturday): Seven B-17s of the 1st Bombardment Division dropped 24 tons of bombs on Aschersleben as an alternative target from 10:10 a.m. in clear, spring-like weather. The escort consisted of Mustang hunters. The urban area, the train station and the Johannis suburb were hit. There were 78 German and 4 foreign fatalities.
  • April 11, 1945 : US tactical fighter-bombers , presumably of the 9th Air Force , attacked the city from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Bahnanlagen / Blumenstrasse and the hospital were particularly affected . There were 39 fatalities, including 16 from the hospital. The funerals took place on April 16. In the heavy attack, the hospital was bombed - despite the red crosses on the roofs glowing from far away. Twelve wounded soldiers , three nurses , a doctor and the hospital inspector were killed in direct hits. The hospital was badly damaged. A passenger train coming from Halle had no entrance because of the alarm. While he was waiting, Jabos attacked and destroyed him. The passengers fled to the houses on Blumenstrasse. A direct hit killed 22 people in one of the air raid shelters . The marshalling yard in the west of the city was completely destroyed. An ammunition train exploded here, wagon by wagon, into the night. Serious building damage occurred in today's August-Bebel-Strasse, Eislebener Strasse and along the railway site.
  • April 11-16 , 1945 : Jabo attacks took place every day, especially on the railway systems, until they were completely destroyed. The damage to buildings in the city was considerable, and the exact number of dead and wounded is not known. The US Major Harlan W. Newell is said to have prevented further air strikes or even a planned final bombing of Aschersleben. He became city commander and in 1995 an honorary citizen of the city.
  • On 17./18. April Aschersleben was occupied by US ground troops "against some resistance" .

The Junkers branch in Aschersleben was "damaged, but intact" on the ground and in American aerial photographs in May 1945. Up to the end, up to 7,000 "Junkerans" had worked there, increasingly also in outsourced parts of the company: "Reichsdeutsche, Volksdeutsche, more and more elderly, women, war disabled, recruited foreigners, forced laborers and concentration camp inmates".

Fatalities

The addition of the fatalities of the ("confirmed") air raids from February 22, 1944 to April 11, 1945 results in 182 German and 45 foreign deaths. However, these figures are not exhaustive. One has to count the 74 German and 8 foreign victims of an "unconfirmed air attack" on April 22, 1944, as well as 21 "terrorist victims" by low-flying aircraft in February 1945 and 40 dead by low-flying aircraft in March and April 1945 (four of them children and two foreigners ). There were also numerous missing persons. One can probably assume - with the city's cemetery system - that 450 people fell victim to the air raids: 250 from the civilian population and 200 foreigners. In addition, there is an unknown number of members of the Wehrmacht who died in the air raids and of German and Allied aircraft crews who had crashed.

Burial and memorial sites

In the main cemetery of Aschersleben, at Schmidtmannstrasse 40, "At the memorial for the victims of terrorism of World War II, 291 citizens, forced laborers and foreign workers who were buried during the bombing of the Junkers branch in Aschersleben (and the city) in 1944 / 45 perished ”.

Condition of the burial site after 1945 : After the end of the war, the individual graves were leveled and preserved as a mass grave . The area was provided with lawn and very sparsely maintained. The foreign workers (killed in the bombing) were also buried on this site. The two fallen US soldiers buried here were transferred to the USA during the short American occupation, the Dutch, Belgians, French and other Western Europeans to their home countries. The Italians stayed at the burial site alongside the Germans. Only after the end of the GDR was this “community grave” somewhat embellished, including a large grave memorial that had been moved / rededicated. The city administration and organizations commemorate the dead annually.

Today (2020) : On the level, grass-covered cemetery for the victims of World War II, surrounded by a hedge , you can see the following inscription on a memorial: HEAR THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE DEAD - PROTECT THE PEACE. MEMORIAL TO THE VICTIMS OF WORLD WAR II. It is a rededicated monument. The names of those buried here can be found on the e-page of an online project Memorial Monuments: Germans , Poles, Western foreigners . In the 1990s, the Republic of Italy placed a memorial stone to the right of the memorial on the edge of the grave area for the Italian military internees who were buried here and who fell victim to the air raids: bilingual text, “In memory of those who fell here”. On the left side of the memorial there is a memorial stone: "To commemorate the victims of flight and displacement. The memory lives on in us. 1945 - 1995".

In the Soviet cemetery of honor there are also “graves of forced laborers (and certainly prisoners of war) who had to work in Aschersleben factories and who were killed in air raids on factories and residential camps”.

  • Very small notice board in front of the cemetery of honor for German and foreign bomb victims

  • Memorial in the cemetery of honor for the bomb victims

  • Grave field with the bomb victims

  • Grave field with the bomb victims

  • Memorial stone for Italian bomb victims

  • Memorial stone for victims of displacement

literature

  • Baedekers Harz: travel guide " The Harz and its foreland ". 3. Edition. Karl Baedeker, Leipzig 1943
  • Roger A. Freeman: The Mighty Eighth War Diary . Jane's. London, New York, Sydney. 1981. ISBN 0 7106 00 38 0
  • Olaf Groehler : bombing war against Germany . Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1990. ISBN 3-05-000612-9
  • Reiner Mühle: Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG. Branch in Aschersleben 1935-1945 . 10 years of company history. Aschersleben 2008
  • Reiner Mühle and Wolfgang Kilian: Moments in Contemporary History - Aschersleben and the Second World War . Aschersleben, self-publisher. 2012. Available in the Aschersleben City Archives.

Web links

Commons : Air raids on Aschersleben  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Olaf Groehler : Bomb war against Germany . 1990, p. 35
  2. ↑ Reiner Mühle and Wolfgang Kilian: Moments of Contemporary History - Aschersleben and the Second World War . 2012
  3. ↑ Reiner Mühle and Wolfgang Kilian: Moments of Contemporary History - Aschersleben and the Second World War . Aschersleben, 2012
  4. ↑ Reiner Mühle and Wolfgang Kilian: Moments of Contemporary History - Aschersleben and the Second World War . 2012
  5. ↑ Reiner Mühle and Wolfgang Kilian: Moments of Contemporary History - Aschersleben and the Second World War . 2012
  6. ↑ Reiner Mühle and Wolfgang Kilian: Moments of Contemporary History - Aschersleben and the Second World War . 2012. p. 166
  7. ^ Roger A. Freeman: Mighty Eighth War Diary . 1981
  8. ↑ Reiner Mühle and Wolfgang Kilian: Moments of Contemporary History - Aschersleben and the Second World War . 2012
  9. ↑ Reiner Mühle and Wolfgang Kilian: Moments of Contemporary History - Aschersleben and the Second World War . 2012
  10. ^ Air raid on Holy Saturday March 31, 1945
  11. ^ Attack on April 11, 1945
  12. ↑ Harlan W. Newell becomes an honorary citizen in 1995
  13. ↑ Reiner Mühle and Wolfgang Kilian: Moments of Contemporary History - Aschersleben and the Second World War . 2012
  14. ↑ Aschersleben cemetery burial book. Quoted from Mühle and Kilian, Moments der Zeitgeschichte, 2012, p. 166
  15. ↑ Brochure "150 Years of the Cemetery" Aschersleben
  16. ^ Burial site at Aschersleben Cemetery
  17. ↑ Reiner Mühle and Wolfgang Kilian: Moments of Contemporary History - Aschersleben and the Second World War . 2012. p. 117
  18. ↑ Monument project